Short story:

2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake. It wrecked the designer's computer and apparently messed up his HD, too.

Agreed, those are the most distinctive maps in the game. You can really tell that the Slovakia map was a labor of love, made by people who knew the territory.

In some cases, coastlines and river courses are wrong compared to historical photos, and there are lakes that actually represent post-WW2 reservoirs.

Even ignoring the technical skills required, it takes access to historical resources and some knowledge of the area to make a good, historical map.

Normandy Map: This is our only map of coastal France, so it has to do double duty as both the site of the D-Day Invasion and for RAF and early USAAF "Circus," "Ramrod", "Rhubarb", "Roadstead" and "Rodeo," missions.

The same criticisms apply about lack of distinctive ground objects as apply to most other maps. There's nothing about the buildings or trees that makes you think you're flying over France, much less Normandy. (Apple orchards?, poplar trees?, Gray fieldstone houses?, walled farms?, hedgerows?, cows?)

The US and UK plane sets could use some work. Obviously the complete list is huge, so here are the highlights.

US Planes 1942-43: B-26A, P-38F & H, P-47C-10, Flyable B-17E & F.
US Planes 1944: As above, but B-26B, P-38 "Droop Snoot", Piper L-5 "Cub"/"Grasshopper"

UK Planes 1942-43: Mustang Mk. I, Hawker Typhoon MkIB, Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV, more Beaufighter variants (NF and anti-shipping), Mosquito intruder and NF variants, possibly Westland Lysander (for SOE agent drop missions).

UK Planes 1944: As above but add Auster AOP and possibly the Albemarle bomber/transport.

German Planes: Complete AFAIK.

For the D-Day invasion, many ships and ground objects are missing. There should be many more varieties of beach obstacles, bunkers, landing craft, ground vehicles, etc.

Me-410? Ju-88C6? Or maybe Bf-110F?

BTW, the easiest to add from that list would be the P-47C I think. Would be easy to backdate the P-47D-10 model we already have. (external model: only modifying some panel lines on the skin?) Maybe only some minor cockpit work that would be needed. (EDIT: Not that easy. C had somewhat different cowling and smaller landing flaps)

Point taken. There were plenty of German aircraft used along the western coasts of Occupied Europe, but the lack of a map of England limits the scope for German bombing and maritime ops on the Normandy map. So, I was thinking of the Normandy maps as maps where the Allies are on the offensive.

With the addition of the Tobruk and Italian maps, there's much more scope for German offensive scenarios. Taking off my blinders, here's a list of mid- to late-War German bomber or fighter bomber aircraft which were commonly used on the Western Front/Mediterranean:

Bomber/Intruder: Flyable Do-217K-1 & Do-217M-1. Do-217E-1, Do-217E-3, Do-217E-5, Do-217J-1, He-111H-16, He-111H-20, Ju-88C-2, Ju-88C-4, Ju-88S-1, Ju-188E-1, Me-410A-1.

Cargo: Flyable Ju-52/3mg3e.

Heavy Fighter/Strike Fighter: Flyable Bf-110C-4/B. Bf-110C-7, Bf-110D-1, Bf-110D-3, Bf-110E-1, Bf-110F-2, Ju-88C-6c, Me-410A-1/U2, Me-410A-1/U4, Me-410B-1.

Night Fighter: Bf-110F-4, Bf-110G-4, Ju-88C-6b NJ

Patrol Bomber: Flyable Do-217K-2. BV-138B-1, FW-200C-4, He-115B-1, He-115C-1, Ju-88H-2, Ju-290A-5, Ju-290A-7.

Training/Liaison: Bf-108B, FW-57B-1, FW-57B-2, Si-204D-1.

These aircraft would be most appropriate for the Italy, Normandy and Norway maps. Sub-sets would be appropriate to the Ardennes, Berlin and Tobruk maps. They'd also be perfect for the modded Channel maps, as well as any forthcoming maps of Southern Italy or Malta.

Honestly, I'd be glad if we would get at least a late He-111 variant, like the H-16, a flyable Bf-110C4 (even without rear gunner), and a flyable Ju-88C6. Sadly we cant expect more from the german side :(

Mitsubishi F1M

Some airplanes
 

My wish list:

Sukhoi Su-2
TBF Avenger
TBD Devastator
Any Liaison Airplane
Ju-52 Military and Passenger transport

For early Mediterranean Maps:
RAF: Flyable Blenheims - both Mk I and MkIV
Flyable Gladiators Mk I and MkII ( Yes J8A and Gladiator MkII same plane,
so not top priority)
AI only - Lysander, Short Sunderland
And flyable- Martin Maryland, Beaufighter Ic

Regia Aeronautica: Add flyable - Fiat Cr-32, Ba-65, G.50 bis
AI only- Ro-37, Ca-310 series

Luftwaffe: Add Ju-87R, Bf-110E (tropical version?)

Pacific:
TBD Devastator
F1M Pete
A6M3 Model 22

Just my wishlist..... But always happy with whatever you guys decide to add. Looking foward to R-5. I like bi-planes.
Perhaps a match up between Hungarian Cr-42s and VVS R-5s, but..... that's another topic.

Might be difficult to get cockpit pictures for such a rare bird. Ditto for the Neiman R-10. Agreed that it would be cool to fly these rare birds.

Can't happen. Thanks for nothing Northrop-Grumman!


You got your liaison plane right here:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/member.php?u=17669

Seems to be a common request. With the TBD/TBM being off-limits, a flyable TBD is about the closest we'll ever get to a flyable USN torpedo bomber.

I'm not sure it's necessary to add the civilian version, since they saw very little action during WW2 (unlike the DC-3 which sometimes strayed into war zones). But, making the Ju-52 3m/4e flyable would be useful they regularly went into harm's way.